


Stray

by PilotInTheStars



Series: Now That's What You Call a Dream [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Kanan Lives AU, Pregnancy, lothcats, stray cats
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-22 15:32:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17062406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PilotInTheStars/pseuds/PilotInTheStars
Summary: Kanan, Hera, and Jacen find a stray lothcat near their home on Lothal.





	1. A Rainy Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which a stray lothcat is found, Hera may or may not be expecting another baby (she is), and they are all happy. 
> 
> I'd like to dedicate this to the beautiful stray kitty that appeared on my doorstep a couple days ago. You were very sweet. I wish I could have kept you, but alas.

Hera was folding laundry one night when she heard Jacen calling for her. 

“Mommy?”

She set down the shirt she was folding. “Yes, Jacen?”

“Can you come here?”

So Hera stood up and went to see what he needed. She sucked in a breath when the baby in her belly squirmed and she drifted a hand over her bump, which always managed to calm them down. When her bump had first started to show, Hera had wondered if maybe her second child would not nearly be as active as Jacen had been. She had already been proven wrong. 

She walked over to find Jacen sitting by the front door to their home with his ear pressed to the door.

“Jacen, what’s wrong?”

Her little boy looked up to her, his big blue eyes wide with worry. “There’s a kitty outside!”

Hera raised a brow. “What?”

“I heard a kitty meowing.” Hera’s first thought was that he was just joking, but his face was too serious for it to be a joke. Jacen put his ear to the door.

“Can you hear it, Mama?”

Hera shook her head and took a step forward, placing her earcone next to the door, trying to listen for what Jacen described. But all she heard was the downpour of rain. She looked down. “Are you sure you heard a lothcat meowing?”

Jacen nodded furiously. He rubbed an eye with a fist and Hera realized that it was past his bedtime. And he had school tomorrow. She and Kanan had both forgot. 

“Mama, can we check? I don’t want to leave a kitty outside in the rain.”

It was wet outside and while Hera wanted to stay indoors and finish folding laundry and go to bed, she couldn’t get past the sad look his in eyes, her little boy worried that a kitten was out in the cold rain. And even Hera felt sad for the hypothetical lothcat stuck in the drizzle. “I’ll check. You need to stay right here though.”

Hera grabbed her water-repellant general’s jacket and put it on. Zipping it was impossible at this point but she drew the hood over her head. It would have to do. 

Jacen stood patiently right before the doorway as she opened the door and stepped out onto the street. Using the light from a streetlamp nearby as her guide, she gazed around, seeing if there was indeed the lothcat that Jacen had supposedly heard. Nothing was to be found and the streets were empty. 

But then Hera heard it. The meowing of a lothcat. She turned her head towards the alley next to their home, perhaps the only place a lothcat could possibly be.

The alley was completely dark and she was almost beginning to believe that she’d heard the whole thing in her head. And then she saw eyes glinting at her from the shadows of the alley.

“There you are, kitty.”

She took a few hesitant steps closer and the lothcat purred. 

Reevaluating her plan, she turned to her head to see Kanan standing there at the end of the alley. 

“Hera? What are you doing?”

“She’s looking for the lothcat, Daddy!” Jacen called from the front door. 

Kanan groaned and joined Hera. “I really wish Ezra was here. He has a way with animals.” Kanan knelt down next to her and extended a hand, his eyes closed. The lothcat meowed again and took a step out of its little hiding place.

Kanan made no moves, and it eventually walked closer to him, obviously happy. Hera was still as well, waiting with baited breath. The lothcat finally stepped into Kanan’s arms. 

“Mommy! Daddy! Did you find the kitty?” Jacen called again. 

“We found the kitty, Jacen,” Hera called back. 

Kanan carried the lothcat into the house behind Hera, and she turned around to find him soaked.

“It’s alright,” he said before she could say anything. The cat meowed. 

“Let’s get a box for it.” 

Jacen immediately ran off to get a box, and Hera got some clean towels to line the box with. Kanan stood there, dripping, the cat unaffected and just happy. Once they had finished, Hera took the cat from him, and set it down in the box. 

The cat purred happily. 

“Do you think it’s lost from home?” Kanan asked.

“I don’t know,” Hera said, watching Jacen sit by the box and smile at the cat. Hera finally took off her dripping raincoat and put it on the hook by the door right as the baby gave a very angry kick. 

She sucked in a breath. 

“Hera?”

“I’m okay. Baby kicked.”

“They’re wet and cold.” Kanan kissed her gently.

“Bleh,” Jacen said, looking up at them with his tongue out, which he did every time they kissed. “Icky.”

Hera rolled her eyes and smiled. “Jacen, why don’t you get some pajamas on? I think it is past your bedtime.”

“Aww,” Jacen said, but he patted the lothcat on its head and went up the stairs to change into his pajamas. “Can you read me a story after I brush my teeth, Mommy?”

"Of course,” Hera said, and he smiled and bolted up the stairs.

“Don’t run!”

She turned back to Kanan. “I thought you were wearing a coat when you went outside. You’re soaked to the bone.”

Kanan shrugged. “I was a little more concerned with our four-year-old standing with the door wide open and my wife missing.” 

Hera winced. “I’m sorry, I… didn’t think that through. And you couldn’t probably find your coat.”

“It’s fine. I’m just cold.”

Hera stood on her tiptoes to kiss him again. He wrapped his arms around her and he gently tugged her closer despite the fact that he was still dripping water. She laughed and he kissed her again. 

“Ah, well, I’m slightly less cold now.”

Chopper rolled in right at that moment, asking why they were dripping wet, why a lothcat was now sleeping in a box in their home, and why they were just laughing at the questions he asked instead of answering them.

* * *

The day after Kanan and Hera asked the nearby houses if anyone was missing a lothcat. No one was, and they didn’t know of anyone who did own a lothcat that looked like the picture they showed them. 

It had been two weeks of watching and caring for the cat when they gave up trying to find any owner, and accepted that the cat was in fact a stray or just a wild cat on Lothal. Jacen loved the lothcat, and the lothcat was friendly towards him, for which Hera was glad. Chopper merely tolerated it, preferring to be in any room that the cat wasn’t in.

Hera was reading her datapad when Kanan walked into the living room one late evening after Jacen had gone to bed.

“Jacen finally chose a name for the lothcat.”

“Has he now?” 

“Eeva. Apparently it’s from a story he listened to at school.”

Kanan dropped onto the couch next to Hera, resting his head on her shoulder. 

“So... This lothcat. What are we going to do?”

Hera pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know. We could try to find a home for the lothcat, or…”

“We keep it?”

Hera gave a small laugh. “I don’t know what else we’re going to do at this point.”

Kanan sighed and Hera kissed his forehead.

“We were planning on another one and now we’ve got two.”

“What?”

The corners of Kanan’s mouth turned upwards in a smile. “We were going to have one more baby. Now we have one on the way and a lothcat.” 

Hera rolled her eyes. “I found you in an alley too.”

“Ah, well,” Kanan said. “You kept both of us now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> As always, comments and kudos appreciated, and if there are any typos or errors, feel free to let me know!
> 
> <3
> 
> (Are lothcats domesticated? Are only some of them domesticated? Oh well, they are in this fic)


	2. Cared For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second chapter is here! 
> 
> Features Eeva and her growing bond with the family. 
> 
> A HUGE thank you to [rebelsfromstars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelsfromstars/pseuds/rebelsfromstars), who beta-ed this chapter for me. She is awesome, and everyone who loves Rebels and Kanera should definitely go check out all of her work.

Hera was standing in the finished nursery when something rubbed up against her legs. She looked down to see Eeva there. The lothcat meowed happily.

“Do you like it, kitty? I know I do.” Hera looked up to gaze at the nursery that she and Kanan had put together over the past few months. It was quiet and decorated with soft colors, many of the items reused from Jacen’s little makeshift nursery on the Ghost.

“I think they’ll like it too.” Hera glanced over to the mural that Sabine had insisted on painting on the wall, like she had done for Jacen’s nursery. She smiled as she placed a hand on her belly and turned to leave.

She waited by the door for Eeva, who eagerly followed. It was something that Hera had gotten used to during the past couple of months. If Jacen wasn’t around or if he was busy with something else, Eeva immediately sought Hera, tracking her down and then following her wherever she went. She wasn’t sure exactly why, but something told her it had to do with either the fact that Hera found her, or the fact that Hera was expecting a baby. Most of the time, Hera wasn’t sure which one. 

Eeva followed Hera, hopping up on the bed beside her as she sat down and she purred happily as she got a scratch behind the ears. 

Hera picked up the datapad by her bed and was preparing to read some New Republic reports when she felt the cat put a paw on her belly. 

“Yep, there’s a baby in there.” Hera gave a smile. The cat meowed. “To be honest, I think I’m just ready for this baby to be born. I want to meet them.”

Hera heard the door opening and she looked up to see Kanan entering the room. 

“Hey there,” he said. “What are you doing?”

“Eeva and I are trying to relax.” She glanced down to look at the lothcat who had curled up right next to her belly. The baby gave a huge kick, one that knocked the air out of Hera’s lungs. Eeva meowed happily.

“You are strange,” Hera informed the cat. 

Kanan chuckled. “I’m assuming you are talking to the lothcat, and not me?”

“Eeva has decided to put herself right next to my bump so the baby can kick her.”

Kanan considered it. “Maybe she’s a little strange.” He walked over to kiss her. “I’m going to take a shower, I’ll be right back.”

Hera looked around, and resigned herself to the fact that she was too tired and big to even get up at this point. “I’ll be here.”

Kanan left to go to the bathroom and Hera sat back against her upright pillow. She lifted her hand to scratch the cat behind the head.

“I’m glad we found you, kitty,” she said. 

* * *

Kanan was meditating one morning when he heard something meow. He opened his eyes to look but only darkness surrounded him. Maybe his brain would remember someday that when he opened his eyes, he wouldn’t be able to see. There were too many times where it forgot.

The cat meowed and took a step onto his lap and he couldn’t help but smile. He stroked the lothcat’s head, running his fingers through the soft fur. He tried to imagine the cat with Hera’s description in mind - brown spotted fur and dark, brown eyes - but his heart panged a little to realize he’d never actually get to see the lothcat. 

_Like you will never get to see either of your children. ___

Kanan shook the thought from his head, petting the lothcat again. _You’re there to hold and care for them. You can’t help what’s already happened. ___

He knew there was no point in going back to meditating now, considering that Jacen would soon be up and would want breakfast, and then he and Hera had to take him to school.

“Alright, Eeva, we’ve gotta get up now.” 

Kanan gently picked her up and set her down next to him, and while he could tell that the cat was disappointed, she gave a tiny little meow, one that he interpreted as an “It’s alright.” He stood up and began to leave, and he heard the pitter-patter of little paws following him. It reminded him of when Jacen was beginning to toddle around on both his feet. He felt paternal pride (and a tiny bit of heartache) when his son could walk around on his own without his or Hera’s help. Kanan had soon been delighted when he had found their tiny almost-toddler following him around whenever he could, babbling to Kanan, expecting him to understand. 

“Want to help me get breakfast ready?” Kanan asked. 

The lothcat meowed, and they walked to the kitchen together. 

* * *

Jacen was surprised when Sabine came to pick him up from school one day. He was delighted to see her, of course, but he wanted to know why his mom and dad didn’t come to take him home.

“Hey, Jacen,” Sabine said as she knelt down to give him a hug. “Didn’t expect me to pick you up today?”

Jacen shook his head. “Why did you pick me up today?” His eyes lit up. “Are we having a sleepover at your house?”

“I’m afraid not today. I’m here to take you home and babysit.”

Jacen cocked his head to the side, thinking. “Why?”

Sabine smiled and her eyes filled with warmth. “Your mom is having her baby.”

Jacen grinned back. “Has the baby come yet? Can we see Mom and Dad?”

“Not at the moment, buddy. She hasn’t had the baby yet.” Seeing Jacen’s disappointment, she added, “But your mom promised to comm me as soon as she could when the baby arrives. Then I will drive you and we can see the baby. Does that sound like a deal?”

Jacen gave an enthusiastic nod. He thought of his new sibling. “I’m going to be a big brother, ‘Bean!” he informed her as she took his hand. 

“You will be, Jacen,” Sabine replied, and they walked home together. The house was quiet when they arrived, but Eeva immediately came to Jacen at the front door. She meowed and Jacen sat down right there.

“Hey there, Eeva,” he said.

Jacen played with Eeva and Chopper for most of the afternoon, until Sabine told him that dinner was ready. They ate together and then she helped him with his worksheet from school. 

After they had finished practicing his letters and he had taken a bath, it was evening. Sabine hadn’t been commed yet and they still couldn’t visit the medcenter. So he had to go to bed. Jacen begged to stay up for just a little bit longer, so that he would know when Sabine was commed, but she convinced him that he needed to go to bed. If he went to sleep, he wouldn’t be tired when they got to meet the baby. So Jacen agreed to brush his teeth and go to bed. 

But after Sabine had read him a story, tucked him in, and turned the lights off, he couldn’t fall asleep. He was far too excited to visit his mom and dad at the medcenter and meet his sibling. 

Jacen was about to get up and tell Sabine that he couldn’t sleep when the door to his room, which was already slightly ajar, opened further. He sat up to see Eeva standing there. 

Eeva meowed at him and jumped up onto Jacen’s bed curling up right near his feet. 

Jacen leaned forward a little bit to pet Eeva on the head and she purred happily. She dropped her head to rest on his blanket and he fell back onto his pillow. Listening to her purring, his eyes drooped, and he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> I think the next chapter might be the last in this story specifically, but most certainly not the last in this series. I have got much planned. :D
> 
> As always, if you notice any errors or typos, feel free to let me know! :)


End file.
